THE BUZZ: Much has been made of the dual-touch functionality on Sony’s upcoming next-gen portable, the PSVita, and many developers are falling all over themselves to ensure that gamers understand how to make the most of the device’s robust input options.

Not so for the folks at Fun Bits Interactive, who are hard at work on their upcoming puzzle adventure, Escape Plan. In this week’s interview with EGMi: The Digital Magazine, COO Chris Millar reveals that the team believes the device’s complexity presents an exciting opportunity for genuine discovery that many modern games have forgotten.

“One of the things we’re trying to do—since it’s a new device—we want people to enjoy the experience of learning how to use it, which is cool,” he says. “We don’t want to have to do overbearing tutorials or anything like that.”

“We want people to enjoy the experience and then go, ‘Oh, hey, I can back tap and move things or swipe my fingers to move the camera.’ And then we start moving and layering those mechanics on top of each other in each puzzle to make the game more difficult.”Similar to the approach taken by From Software’s Dark Souls, Millar seems to think that there’s a large part of the gaming population that’s looking for a challenge born of trial-and-error gameplay, and from what he senses, the reward far outweighs the risk of putting gamers in precarious positions:

“When people hit that “a-ha!” moment, it’s really cool when they see they can create a stairway or just fall through, and it’s a cool exploratory process. It’s great to just watch people as this happens”

EGM’S TAKE: The more we see from the PSVita, the more the excitement starts to build. It’s clear Sony’s taking a refreshingly different approach to its selection process, actively seeking out partners like Fun Bits (who also had a heavy hand in the PSN hit Fat Princess) to push the status quo. If offerings like Escape Plan are any indication, the Vita should have one of the most intriguing hardware launches in recent memory.

For more info on the characters, art, and outside influences that helped shape this quirky adventure title, be sure to check out the full interview in EGMi: The Digital Magazine!

Fun Bits Interactive COO speaks on engineering discovery on PSVita

By | 10/5/2011 01:34 PM PT

Update

THE BUZZ: Much has been made of the dual-touch functionality on Sony’s upcoming next-gen portable, the PSVita, and many developers are falling all over themselves to ensure that gamers understand how to make the most of the device’s robust input options.

Not so for the folks at Fun Bits Interactive, who are hard at work on their upcoming puzzle adventure, Escape Plan. In this week’s interview with EGMi: The Digital Magazine, COO Chris Millar reveals that the team believes the device’s complexity presents an exciting opportunity for genuine discovery that many modern games have forgotten.

“One of the things we’re trying to do—since it’s a new device—we want people to enjoy the experience of learning how to use it, which is cool,” he says. “We don’t want to have to do overbearing tutorials or anything like that.”

“We want people to enjoy the experience and then go, ‘Oh, hey, I can back tap and move things or swipe my fingers to move the camera.’ And then we start moving and layering those mechanics on top of each other in each puzzle to make the game more difficult.”Similar to the approach taken by From Software’s Dark Souls, Millar seems to think that there’s a large part of the gaming population that’s looking for a challenge born of trial-and-error gameplay, and from what he senses, the reward far outweighs the risk of putting gamers in precarious positions:

“When people hit that “a-ha!” moment, it’s really cool when they see they can create a stairway or just fall through, and it’s a cool exploratory process. It’s great to just watch people as this happens”

EGM’S TAKE: The more we see from the PSVita, the more the excitement starts to build. It’s clear Sony’s taking a refreshingly different approach to its selection process, actively seeking out partners like Fun Bits (who also had a heavy hand in the PSN hit Fat Princess) to push the status quo. If offerings like Escape Plan are any indication, the Vita should have one of the most intriguing hardware launches in recent memory.

For more info on the characters, art, and outside influences that helped shape this quirky adventure title, be sure to check out the full interview in EGMi: The Digital Magazine!